Nairn Academy are Dewar Debate champions

Two pupils from Nairn Academy came out on top in the final of the Donald Dewar Memorial Debating Tournament, held last night in the Scottish Parliament.

The four teams taking part, under Deputy Presiding Officer Linda Fabiani MSP, had to contest the motion "This House supports the right to be forgotten online".

Caitlin Sherrett and Finlay Allmond from the Highland school were adjudged the winners, ahead of runners-up Ross Heenan and Andrew Buchan from Braes High, Falkirk, with Laura Wood and Sarah Gardner from The Royal High, Edinburgh, and Adam McGirr and Paul Hansen from St Maurice’s High, Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, the other finalists.

The winners were presented with the tournament trophy and £1,000 for their school from the Law Society of Scotland, which organises the tournament. The runners-up received £250 from the Glasgow Bar Association. All finalists received individual quaichs and certificates, and tournament sponsors, Hodder Gibson Publishers, donated educational books to the value of £500, to be shared by the winners and runners-up. Lauren Miller of Braes High took the prize of £50 worth of book vouchers for the best floor speech of the night.

Eilidh Wiseman, President of the Society, said: “I congratulate Caitlin and Finlay for their outstanding performance – it really was impressive. Many congratulations must also go to the three other teams in the final. Getting to this stage is an incredible achievement, particularly when you consider that there were teams from over 100 schools in the opening rounds of this year’s tournament. All of our finalists should feel very proud of their success.

“It was a privilege for us to host the tournament final in the debating chamber of the Scottish Parliament once again. I would like to thank the Deputy Presiding Officer, Linda Fabiani MSP, for such an excellent job in presiding over the final. Thanks too, go to our judges who had the challenging task of selecting the winning team.”